Seapegasus Blog

Java, linguistics, scifi, steampunk, games

I watched some episodes of this Space Engineers video series by LastStandGamers, and now I went back to watch it from the beginning. It’s good example of the typical Space Engineers gameplay, watch it to see whether you’d like it. The series starts out like a tutorial that shows the “how to survive in Space Engineers” gameplay.

(Spoilers ahead.) The players banter about the meaning of “turn left” and “turn right” in general, and in space in particular. While the camera pans out, and we see the destroyed ship, halfway crashed through an asteroid. Yup, happens to me too, all the time!

They proceed to show how to dismantle the ship wreck and use the parts: You need to build tools to process materials, produce missing machine parts and building blocks, so you can build a base and drilling ships. (This was recorded before oxygen and meteor showers were introduced into the game.)

Up to part four, the gameplay feels quite slow, like minecraft without creepers. From part four on, the pace increases. “Sage? Come over here. Have they added gravity to asteroids?” — “They didn’t put that in. I checked the patch notes. You’re just paranoid.”

So when Aron casually mentioned earlier that he is adding support beams to his asteroid base in zero-g, due to his paranoid fear that the developers will implement more realistic gravity, they were actually foreshadowing. Nah, the only source of 1g gravity would be a gravity generator, which needs an energy source, like a ship or base — “Dropyourname dropyourname! Therespeople! Savemesaveme!” Yup, Sage is a good choice for the role of the panicky voice without being too annoying. ;-)

This is a very simple story, but it’s fun to watch. They stumble upon a hidden base, sneak around, and watch a stranger from afar… “Is he hostile? He can’t be that bad, he’s wearing bright yellow.” X-)

By the start of episode five, they have been spotted, and a thrilling chase scene ensues. An unseen enemy, bullets fly, a lot of running through mining tunnels and badly lit hallways, shouting and looking over shoulders, while trying to loot as much as possible. “Barricade the door!” “He’s cutting through!” “Oooh look, nickel ingots!”

The abandoned base was excellently built for this scene. Many partly welded blocks, ominous crates and pods, machine parts and rubble strewn about. And the ghost of the yellow astronaut opening and closing doors… :-o Or isn’t he?

I like this way of doing Let’s Plays. Design adventure scenarios for each other, and explore them! We all know the storylines are scripted, but they don’t take themselves or role-playing too seriously. “What are you doing here?” — “I was doing… my thing… with ships… in space… and may have been under the influence of… gummy bears… And woke up in this cryo pod? Where are we?” It’s natural enough and clearly tongue-in-cheek, and we can enjoy going along with it.

We all know Herobrine is a myth, and we know that no faceless astronaut secretly builds bases on our multiplayer servers. … Right…?